Sleepers at Quarterback
Aaron Rodgers, Pittsburgh (at Cincinnati)
The Steelers' offense became more conservative and leaned on their backfield going into their bye, but Joe Burrow won't allow them the luxury of playing it safe on Sunday night. Rodgers threw for 292 yards and three scores in the meeting between the two teams earlier this season, and the Bengals pass defense hasn't improved since then. Cam Ward, Malik Willis, and Baker Mayfield all posted one of their best games of the season against the Bengals.
Drew Lock, Seattle (at Las Vegas) **Monitor Status**
Lock added an oblique strain to his elbow tendinitis last week, but he is expected to start against a Raiders defense that has allowed at least 30 points in each of their last six games. Over that stretch, every quarterback they have faced has thrown multiple scores, and the group averaged a little over 260 passing yards even though they only threw the ball 30.5 times per game. As long as Lock targets Jaxon Smith-Njigba a lot and doesn't leave the game with an injury, he should be a solid waiver pickup play to cover Caleb Williams' bye.
Geno Smith, NY Jets (vs Buffalo)
Did the Bills' defense improve since their Week 7 bye, or was it the good luck of facing teams that realized they don't have a starting quarterback during the game? The Jets are already demoralized, but they hung with the Chiefs in the first half, managing five drives that ended in field-goal attempts. Perhaps a few of those could end in touchdowns against the Bills, although the team did add ball-hawking safety Amani Hooker in a trade for Tennessee earlier this week, so their D/ST is also a good play!
Jacoby Brissett, Baltimore (vs LA Chargers)
If you have to dig deep at quarterback this week, consider Brissett, who will start a game for the sixth different team in his career on Monday night. He knows his way around a playbook, and apparently offensive coordinator Declan Doyle does too. Brissett should be able to grasp how Doyle wants to leverage Zay Flowers and Derrick Henry and otherwise get advantages with play design and execution right away. The Chargers defense appeared to give up last week against the Texans and could wilt again under the prime-time lights on the road against a team playing for its playoff life every week now.